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62-525: The AHA was founded in 1938, taking over from the Public Works Administration (PWA). Due to the lobbying of Charles Palmer , an Atlantan real estate developer, Atlanta had been the site of the first public housing project in the country in 1936, Techwood Homes . Early public housing projects such as Techwood and its sister project, University Homes, were built for working-class families on the sites of former slums. Charles Palmer became

124-542: A home ownership model for Section 8, and expanded the HOPE VI program to replace traditional public housing units. The QHWRA combined Section 8's Existing Housing Certificate Program and Rental Voucher Program into the new Housing Choice Vouchers Program. The law specifies that at least 75% of a public housing agency's Housing Choice Vouchers be given to families making at or below 30% of the area median income. Lauch Faircloth sponsored an amendment that effectively capped

186-536: A child-care facility and retail shops. There were plans to include homeownership units. In 1994, Renee Glover became chairperson of the AHA, and became a major advocate for the Centennial Place project. After its completion, she began to work towards demolishing the rest of Atlanta's public housing, with the goal of replacing them with "Mixed-Income Communities" , or MICs. This concept was formalized in 1996, and

248-471: A fair housing complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). HUD was charged with approving the applications for demolitions. The AHA continues to provide housing or housing assistance to low-income families, albeit at a smaller scale. 12 communities are owned by the AHA and overseen by private property management firms, including 10 senior high-rises and 2 low-rise complexes for families. They are home to 1,793 households. Since 1995,

310-426: A few smaller projects completed after that date. During the 70s and 80s, the AHA came under increasing criticism, such as from The Great Speckled Bird , over its management of its complexes, as violence and physical deterioration began to grow. When Atlanta won its bid to host the 1996 Olympics, city leaders worried that the public housing complexes would be an international embarrassment. Under chairperson Renee Glover,

372-399: A speech to dedicate the project. Following Techwood Homes, Atlanta's second housing project would be University Homes, intended for African-Americans and built over the demolished Beaver Slide. Even more so than with Techwood, this inhabitants of this project represented a sharp increase in income for the area. While the previous community was made of mostly unskilled laborers, University Homes

434-470: A tour of public housing in the city that focused on their deteriorating conditions. With rising crime rates city-wide and several high-profile crime stories that involved the projects, the Atlantan public began to see public housing as a new version of the slums. East Lake Meadows in particular became known as "Little Vietnam" due to the high number of shooting deaths. In 1990, Atlanta was selected to hold

496-474: A virtual exhibition of the project. When Centennial Place opened, the concept had changed to that of a mixed income community, with only 300 of the previous 1100 units remaining for low-income residents. Centennial Place was positively recognized by HUD and the Urban Land Institute . As of 2007, Centennial Place had a math, science and technology-focused elementary school, a YMCA, a branch bank,

558-874: The New Deal of 1933, was a large-scale public works construction agency in the United States headed by Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes . It was created by the National Industrial Recovery Act in June 1933 in response to the Great Depression . It built large-scale public works such as dams, bridges, hospitals, and schools. Its goals were to spend $ 3.3 billion in the first year, and $ 6 billion in all, to supply employment, stabilize buying power , and help revive

620-804: The San Francisco Mint , which cost $ 1,072,254 to build, as well as the Keys Overseas Highway in Florida. Although this highway was already built prior to the PWA's existence, PWA funding made the road usable again. The 1935 Labor Day hurricane had heavily damaged the highway, and the Florida East Coast Railway was only able to repair the bridge after the PWA came in and offered assistance. A large majority of PWA projects are still in use today because of one big reason:

682-552: The Williamsburg Houses in Brooklyn . The PWA spent over $ 6 billion but did not succeed in returning the level of industrial activity to pre-Depression levels. Though successful in many aspects, it has been acknowledged that the PWA's objective of constructing a substantial number of quality, affordable housing units was a major failure. Some have argued that because Roosevelt was opposed to deficit spending, there

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744-579: The urban renewal projects and created many national public housing programs. In 1965, the Public Housing Administration, the U.S. Housing Authority, and the House and Home Financing Agency were all swept into the newly formed and reorganized United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 was a United States federal law , which, among other provisions, amended

806-570: The 1930s and is still vital nine decades later. The PWA was much less controversial than its rival agency, the Works Progress Administration (WPA), headed by Harry Hopkins , which focused on smaller projects and hired unemployed unskilled workers. The Administration created the PWA in an attempt to help the U.S.'s economy recover after the Great Depression. Its major objective was to reduce unemployment, which

868-402: The 1996 Summer Olympics. This led many city leaders to become concerned about the state of public housing in the city, at a time when HUD had labelled the AHA one of the worst housing authorities in the nation. On the national level, concerns about the state of public housing had led Congress to appropriate funds for HOPE VI , a program designed to revitalize public housing. In 1993, Atlanta won

930-513: The AHA has helped fund the creation of 16 mixed-income communities owned by private developers. These serve 3,996 households. The AHA provides housing vouchers to 8,391 households. Through a program called Homeflex, the AHA assists private developers in providing housing to 3,364 qualifying households. Finally, the HAVEN program provides 1,941 households at risk of homelessness with housing and intensive counseling dispersed throughout their programs. At

992-568: The AHA won Federal HOPE VI funding to tear down many of the public housing complexes, including Techwood. After the Olympics, the campaign to tear down Atlanta's public housing continued, and by 2011 all traditional-style units were torn down or sold to private entities. The AHA now provides six primary housing services, most prominently housing vouchers and mixed-income developments. The movement to construct public housing in Atlanta began during

1054-529: The AHA's first chairperson, and under him and his successors, the agency continued to clear slums and build public housing complexes. The first phase of construction lasted from 1938 to 1941, and was financed with funds from the Wagner-Steagall Act . The second phase was from 1951 to 1956, using grants funded by the Housing Act of 1949 . The final phase took place from 1962 to 1973, with only

1116-524: The Act have remained, but in amended form. The Housing Act of 1937 sought to eliminate what President Franklin Delano Roosevelt described as "habitations which not only fail to provide the physical benefits of modern civilization but breed disease and impair the health of future generations." The legislation outlined four goals: providing housing, renewing existing living areas, decreasing density and

1178-646: The Atlanta Housing Authority. It would be overseen by a five-member board of commissioners appointed by the Mayor, but otherwise be politically independent from the city. The Board of Aldermen granted the AHA the power of eminent domain and tax exemption, and later delegated to it the task of overseeing urban renewal. Charles Palmer was elected the first chairman of the Board of Commissioners in 1938, and would serve in that position until 1940. Throughout

1240-629: The Housing Act of 1937 to create Section 8 housing , authorized "Entitlement Communities Grants" to be awarded by HUD, and created the National Institute of Building Sciences . In 1998, the Quality Housing and Work Responsibility Act (QHWRA) was passed by Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton. Following the frame of welfare reform , QHWRA developed new programs to transition families out of public housing, developed

1302-472: The New Deal. The WPA, headed by Harry Hopkins , engaged in smaller projects in close cooperation with local governments—such as building city halls, sewers, or sidewalks. The PWA projects were much larger in scope, such as giant dams. The WPA hired only people on relief who were paid directly by the federal government, while in contrast, the PWA gave contracts to private firms that hired workers for projects on

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1364-419: The PWA allowed the state and local governments to pick what they wanted to have built or repaired, where they wanted the project as well as who they wanted to build it. Such freedom gave local governments the ability to select a truly useful building that could be used for years down the line. The PWA should not be confused with its great rival, the Works Progress Administration (WPA), though both were part of

1426-555: The PWA as part of his New Deal proposals in the "Hundred Days" of spring 1933. The PWA headquarters in Washington planned projects, which were built by private construction companies hiring workers on the open market. Unlike the WPA, it did not hire the unemployed directly. More than any other New Deal program, the PWA epitomized the progressive notion of "priming the pump" to encourage economic recovery. Between July 1933 and March 1939,

1488-598: The PWA funded and administered the construction of more than 34,000 projects including airports, large electricity-generating dams, major warships for the Navy, and bridges and 70 percent of the new schools and a third of the hospitals built in 1933–1939. Streets and highways were the most common PWA projects, as 11,428 road projects, or 33 percent of all PWA projects, accounting for over 15 percent of its total budget. School buildings, 7,488 in all, came in second at 14 percent of spending. PWA functioned chiefly by making allotments to

1550-638: The PWA was abolished and its functions were transferred to the Federal Works Agency in June 1943. The PWA played an indirect hand in the war by helping fund the construction of two aircraft carriers, Yorktown and Enterprise. Both of these ships played a significant role in the victory in Midway when they sank four Japanese aircraft carriers. The PWA also built four cruisers, four heavy destroyers, light destroyers, submarines, planes, engines, and even instruments for these vessels. The PWA helped get

1612-642: The US get ready to fight in World War II, giving the US an advantage with fresh boats, planes, and equipment. The PWA was responsible for the construction of about 34,000 buildings, bridges, and homes many of which are still in use today. Among these is one of the most recognizable bridges in the U.S., the Triborough Bridge , which was renamed the Robert F. Kennedy Bridge. PWA funded workers to construct

1674-721: The United States federal government to local public housing agencies (LHAs) to improve living conditions for low-income families. The act created the United States Housing Authority within the U.S. Department of the Interior . The act builds on the National Housing Act of 1934 , which created the Federal Housing Administration . Both the 1934 Act and the 1937 Act were influenced by American housing reformers of

1736-664: The United States. Despite his opposition to the election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, it was only with the creation of the Public Works Administration (PWA) in 1933 that Palmer was able to win approval for a public housing project, to be built in Techwood Flats. Techwood Flats was a mixed-race community located between Georgia Tech and downtown Atlanta, with buildings that often lacked running water or electricity. Charles Palmer claimed that he selected Techwood Flats specifically because it lay on his commute from northwest Atlanta into downtown. At this point in time, slum clearance

1798-403: The approval of funds to construct Bowen Homes . This was completed in 1964, and was followed by such projects as Antoine Graves , Bankhead Courts , and East Lake Meadows, among others. In general, these projects were larger and of lower quality than those built before 1956. The projects were some of the last public facilities to be desegregated; this occurred only in 1968. Whites had been leaving

1860-484: The black poor. Until 1937, all public housing in the United States was under the control of the PWA's Housing Division. With the passing of the Wagner-Steagall Act , this was moved to the newly created United States Housing Authority (USHA) under the Department of the Interior . At the same time, most of the administration was decentralized to local housing authorities. In 1938, Atlanta's Board of Aldermen created

1922-504: The budget, Lewis Douglas overrode the views of leading senators in reducing appropriations to $ 3.5 billion and in transferring much of that money to other agencies instead of their own specific appropriations. The cautious and penurious Ickes won out over the more imaginative Hugh S. Johnson as chief of public works administration. Political competition between rival Democratic state organizations and between Democrats and Progressive Republicans led to delays in implementing PWA efforts on

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1984-700: The city or became homeless. In 2011, the AHA also tore down the Roosevelt House and Palmer House senior-citizen high-rises and relocated residents into other properties. However, the John O. Chiles and Cosby Spear senior citizen high rises remained open. As AHA began to systematically close and demolish the projects, a number of issues arose. In 2004, AHA required all adults without diagnosed disabilities between 18 and 61 to be employed or successfully participating in job training or some other educational assistance. By 2007, nearly all able-bodied adults living in

2046-494: The concrete and a third of the steel of the entire nation. The PWA also electrified the Pennsylvania Railroad between New York City and Washington, DC . At the local level, it built courthouses, schools, hospitals, and other public facilities that remain in use in the 21st century. The PWA was supposed to be the centerpiece of the New Deal's drive to build public housing for the urban poor. Public housing

2108-452: The construction of public housing continued until 1956. By the end of that year, 516.8 acres of slums had been cleared and a total of 12 housing projects had been constructed. Excluding Harris Homes , which was completed in 1956, Atlanta's public housing was home to over 27,000 people (it was built for 25,000). The AHA announced that Harris Homes would be its "last low-rent project", as it was redirecting its efforts to urban redevelopment, which

2170-420: The construction of sustainable communities. In order to deflect accusations of socialism and to protect private developers from competition, the act required the demolition of the same number of units of housing as would be built. Furthermore, it severely restricted the income of people who could reside in the new housing. It also limited the amount that could be spent to build the housing to $ 5000 per unit, which

2232-572: The early 1930s. Charles Palmer , an conservative real estate developer, became concerned with the threat to property values posed by shantytowns so close to downtown. Similar concerns were being expressed among the African-American elite, who disliked the physical proximity of Atlanta University to the slum known as Beaver Slide . Palmer embarked on several tours of European countries to examine their public housing programs, and heavily lobbied Washington to begin constructing public housing in

2294-509: The early period of the AHA's existence, public housing was closely connected with slum clearance. This was especially emphasized by US Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes , who saw slum clearance as a positive good in itself, regardless of whether the units were replaced with public housing. Nonetheless, at the time it was taken for granted that replacement housing had to be built. In addition, public housing during this period

2356-586: The economy. Most of the spending came in two waves, one in 1933–1935 and another in 1938. Originally called the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works , it was renamed the Public Works Administration in 1935 and shut down in 1944. The PWA spent over $ 7 billion on contracts with private construction firms that did the actual work. It created an infrastructure that generated national and local pride in

2418-536: The end of 2017, the AHA was serving 23,180 households. These were classified into five groups: In 2016, it was found that Atlanta Housing Authority's publicly paid executives evaded federal rules capping pay at $ 158,700 by supplementing their salaries with money from the nonprofit National Housing Compliance, which receives money from a contract with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to administer low-income housing. Public Works Administration The Public Works Administration ( PWA ), part of

2480-558: The entire GDP of $ 60 billion), the driving force of America's biggest construction effort up to that date. By June 1934, the agency had distributed its entire fund to 13,266 federal projects and 2,407 non-federal projects. For every worker on a PWA project, almost two additional workers were employed indirectly. The PWA accomplished the electrification of rural America, the building of canals, tunnels, bridges, highways, streets, sewage systems, and housing areas, as well as hospitals, schools, and universities; every year, it consumed roughly half of

2542-479: The first HOPE VI grant to renovate and modernize Techwood and Clark Howell Homes. At first, the idea of replacing public housing with mixed-income housing was not considered, and the entire project was to remain public housing. The Integral Group and McCormack Baron Salazar together won the contract in 1994 to demolish Techwood and build its replacement, Centennial Place . By the opening of the 1996 Olympics Techwood had been demolished, although visitors were able to tour

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2604-558: The legislation was the power given to the local governments. The Federal government let the local governments and voters decide on where and how to use the federal funding. This led to local governments maintaining segregationist housing policies as well as allowing many public housing locations to become neglected. The Housing Act of 1949 , enacted during the Harry Truman administration set new postwar national goals for decent living environments; it also funded " slum clearance " and

2666-422: The local level. Ickes instituted quotas for hiring skilled and unskilled black people in construction financed through the PWA. Resistance from employers and unions was partially overcome by negotiations and implied sanctions. Although results were ambiguous, the plan helped provide African Americans with employment, especially among unskilled workers. When Roosevelt moved industry toward World War II production,

2728-418: The new public housing project was all white. This set a precedent of public housing in Atlanta being used to shape the racial and economic composition of communities in areas of interest to the elite. Not only was Techwood Homes the first public housing project in Atlanta, it was also the first permanent public housing project in the United States. It received recognition across the country, and in 1935 FDR gave

2790-473: The period, with Catherine Bauer Wurster chief among them. Bauer drafted much of this legislation and served as a Director in the United States Housing Authority , the agency created by the 1937 Act to control the payment of subsidies, for two years. The sponsoring legislators were Representative Henry B. Steagall , Democrat of Alabama, and Senator Robert F. Wagner , Democrat of New York. Although initially controversial, it gained acceptance and provisions of

2852-477: The poorest of the poor. After its creation in 1938, the AHA immediately began petitioning Washington for funds to construct new housing. During the three years preceding the war, six new housing projects would be completed. For whites, there was Capitol Homes and Clark Howell Homes. For African Americans, the AHA built Herndon Homes, John Hope Homes, John Egan Homes, and Harris Homes. This amounted to 4,000 housing units accommodating 20,000 people. The total investment

2914-594: The private sector job market. The WPA also had youth programs (the National Youth Administration ), projects for women, and art projects that the PWA did not have. Housing Act of 1937 The Housing Act of 1937 ( Pub. L.   75–412 , 50  Stat.   888 , enacted September 1, 1937 ), formally the "United States Housing Act of 1937" and sometimes called the Wagner–Steagall Act , provided for subsidies to be paid from

2976-459: The projects and the city already, but integration prompted virtually all remaining whites to leave the projects. Other projects continued to be built into the 1970s, as well as several high-rises for senior citizens, but after 1973 construction mostly ceased. By 1973, the political consensus that had supported public housing in Atlanta had broken down. Criticism from the left, such as from the underground newspaper The Great Speckled Bird , focused on

3038-472: The remaining housing projects were compliant. In 2008, residents of Bowen Homes and others expressed concern that AHA was not finding homes for their relocation prior to demolition of the 3,000 families living in the complex. According to research done the conversion to vouchers was concentrating the displaced residents by race and income in violation of the Fair Housing Act , prompting a filing of

3100-441: The shoddy construction of recent projects, and the lack of funding for basic maintenance. The "moderate" coalition of businessmen and wealthy elites that dominated Atlanta politics had realized that they could continue slum clearance and urban renewal without needing to build adequate replacement housing. And when Maynard Jackson , Atlanta's first black mayor, was elected by a coalition between blacks and progressive whites, he went on

3162-586: The various federal agencies; making loans and grants to state and other public bodies; and making loans without grants (for a brief time) to the railroads. For example, it provided funds for the Indian Division of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) to build roads, bridges, and other public works on and near Indian reservations. The PWA became, with its " multiplier-effect " and a first two-year budget of $ 3.3 billion (compared to

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3224-502: The vouchers. When Bowen Homes was demolished in 2011, Atlanta became the first American city to demolish all of its family public housing . However, only a small fraction of the units demolished were actually replaced with units in mixed-income communities. This was in part because those units were never planned for construction, in part because the 2008 crash led the AHA to cancel rebuilding plans. And because Atlanta landlords are not required to accept housing vouchers, many presumably left

3286-583: Was $ 21 million to that point. City historian Franklin Garrett remarked humorously, "By 1940, federal funds have built considerably more housing in Atlanta than Federal representative William T. Sherman destroyed here in 1864", referring to the Union general who ordered the burning of Atlanta . With the onset of the war, Atlanta (unlike other cities) paused the construction of new public housing. The next complex would not be erected until 1951. Slum clearance and

3348-568: Was a new concept in the United States, tested for the first time during the New Deal. With this in mind the PWA constructed a total of 52 housing communities for a total of 29,000 units, which was less than what many supporters of public housing had hoped for. The first public housing community built by PWA was the whites-only Techwood Homes in Atlanta, Georgia . The PWA also built one of the first public housing projects in New York City ,

3410-422: Was adopted by the HOPE VI program on a national level. From 1996 until 2011, Atlanta continued the process of tearing down the complexes, taking advantage of relaxed federal rules in effect through 2010. The agency offered residents who qualified a variety of relocation options and long-term assistance that included federal rent-assistance vouchers good anywhere in the country. However, not all residents qualified for

3472-414: Was home to the black middle class, or even the upper middle class. While touted by John Hope (President of Atlanta University) and other black elites as a victory for the black community, it was emblematic of the desire of those same elites to separate themselves from the black poor. It also represented part of the serious disconnect between the goals of the black elites and middle class and the interests of

3534-412: Was not enough money spent to help the PWA achieve its housing goals. Reeves (1973) argues that Roosevelt's competitive theory of administration proved to be inefficient and produced delays. The competition over the size of expenditure, the selection of the administrator, and the appointment of staff at the state level, led to delays and the ultimate failure of PWA as a recovery instrument. As director of

3596-447: Was seen as a tool for shaping the working class into model citizens. In Atlanta as elsewhere, tenants were carefully chosen in order to conform to middle-class values (for example, no unwed mothers). This created communities that were largely homogeneous, mostly consisting of young married couples with children. Only in the postwar era would public housing begin to serve lower-class families, and only gradually would it become associated with

3658-512: Was seen as necessarily tied with public housing, despite the fact that public housing was not intended for habitation by the poor. Rather, public housing was meant to be a temporary aid to middle- or working-class families hurt by the depression. Thus, when the Techwood Homes public housing project was completed in 1936, few residents of the former slum were able to move back in. Furthermore, the old community had been racially mixed, whereas

3720-461: Was to replace public housing. This shift represented the decoupling of slum clearance (or urban renewal) from public housing. It was no longer seen as a necessity to replace cleared neighborhoods with new units. From 1956 to 1966, highway construction and other urban renewal projects would displace almost 67,000—mostly black—people. Only 11% of those displaced would be rehoused in public housing. The final phase of housing construction began in 1962 with

3782-426: Was up to 24% of the work force. Furthermore, the PWA also aimed at increasing purchase power by constructing new public buildings and roads. Frances Perkins had first suggested a federally financed public works program, and the idea received considerable support from Harold L. Ickes , James Farley , and Henry Wallace . After having scaled back the initial cost of the PWA, Franklin Delano Roosevelt agreed to include

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3844-413: Was very low even at that time. These construction projects were carried out by local housing authorities with the federal government providing the funding. Between 1939 and 1943, 160,000 units were constructed. Only 10,000 more units were constructed by 1948. While the Housing Act of 1937 looked to solve American housing issues, it became marred by inequalities and problems. The main problem that rose from

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